March 2008

03/23/2008

Filmed in 2007 at Black Thunder mine, Gillette, Wyoming and Garzweiler, Germany. Shows a wide range of exceptionally large machinery at work in these open-cast coalmines. Photographs from Garzweiler are in the post of 20 October 2007.

The detailed narration is scripted by Keith Haddock, retired mining engineer and author of many books and articles about earthmoving equipment.

The following is a list of the main machines which appear. The machines are not in running order.

03/18/2008

"Dahlia, dah-le-a; named after Andreas Dahl, a Swedish botanist and pupil of Linnaeus. Originally (and still in America) pronounced dah-le-a and not day-le-a as commonly heard. All dahlias usually grown are hybrids from species rarely seen in gardens. Half-hardy tuberous herbaceous plants.

COCCINEA, kok-sin-e-a, scarlet

IMPERIALIS, im-peer-e-a-lis, powerful

JUAREZII, ju-a-re-zei, after Juarez

MERCKII, merk-ei, after Merck

VARIABILIS, var-e-ab-il-is, variable coloured

ZIMAPANII, zim-ap-a-nei, after Zimapan."

This glossary contains over a thousand entries like the one above, the aim of the authors being to remove the 'awkward obstacle' that these names can present. In recent years this classic aid for the gardener and plant lover has been published by Landsmans Bookshop. Old Pond has agreed to take the book over.

03/11/2008

In 1970 Philip Wood was appointed as the first Books Manager at Farming Press, becoming sales director of the books division before he retired in 1980. He collaborated particularly successfully with Eddie Straiton, author of the 'TV Vet' series of books.

Philip's career started in 1932 when went to work with Dairy Farmer magazine in Hanover Square, London, as office boy / typist / teamaker / assistant to the ad manager. In 1935 he transferred to the editorial department, based at Ipswich.

Philip was called up for military service in 1940, served in the Middle East, was commissioned and finished the war as a lieutenant. After the war Philip worked again for Dairy Farmer, then went out to South Africa where he joined the South African Farmers Weekly editorial staff. Back in the UK after a couple of years he became, in 1953, the founder editor of Pig Farming magazine.

Philip and his wife, Phyllis, enjoying his 94th birthday in their Ipswich flat.

From 1958 to 1962 Philip was editor-in-chief of the Farming Press group. In 1963 he left to found his own PR business in Ipwich. In 1970 he returned as books manager.

He has always been just as busy outside work as in: former chairman of the East Anglian publicity club and the Ipswich operatic and dramatic society; chairman of Ipswich rotary club; warden of St Matthew's church and former editor of their parish magazine. He sang in a number of choirs, including the police choir and has written booklets of hymns.

(Although Pig Farming magazine is now closed, cmpi still publishes the Dairy Farmer. There is further more information about the history of Farming Press group, the current status of its books and videos and its relationship with Old Pond at Farming Press.)

03/09/2008

It's eighteen years since Stephen Moate started the specialist distribution company Classic Tractor Books . His range of - and knowledge about - books and DVDs on tractors, farm machinery, earthmoving. logging and allied subjects are unmatched in the UK.

It's also ten years since he launched the companion publishing company Japonica Press. The ex dairy farmer named the company after his favourite cow.